Among the makeshift cheating equipment confiscated during last weekend's gaokao were vests with built in radio capabilities, allowing exam entrants to communicate with outside parties who could feed answers back to them.

[A pen fitted with a button-hole camera that sends pictures to someone outside the exam hall by antenna]

[This vest system uses a copper antenna to beam images out of the hall, while a mobile phone show below connected to an earpiece receives the answers]

[Police displaying what appears to be a KGB relic from the Cold War]

In response to the numerous confiscations, an education department spokesman said: "Education and police authorities will continue to investigate crimes including stealing and selling examination papers, leaking information to exam sitters, providing equipment designed for cheating, and cyber attacks on exam websites."

The spokesman went on to warn that students found cheating would be stripped of the enrollment qualification for a period ranging from one to three years, with parents also severely punished if found to be involved.